hot shower, and curl up in my bed to sleep for several days.
Naturally, my wish was no one's command...
Chapter Twenty-one
I'd barely touched the door when Darius opened it for me. His sharp look made me wonder if he'd been watching the scene between Stark and me, and I sincerely hoped he hadn't.
"Damien and the Twins are in there" was all he said, motioning for me to follow him into the central room of the dorm.
"First I need to borrow your cell phone," I said.
He didn't hesitate or ask annoying questions about who I needed to call and why. He simply handed me his phone, and then he walked ahead of me into the common room. I punched in Stevie Rae's number and held my breath while it rang. When she answered it sounded like she was talking into a tin can, but at least I could hear her.
"Hey, it's me," I said.
"Z! Dang, I'm glad to hear your voice! Are ya okay?"
"Yeah, I'm better."
"Yea! So what's going on with--"
"I'll fill you in on all that later," I cut her off. "Right now you gotta listen to me."
"'Kay," she said.
"Do what I told you to do."
There was a pause and then she said, "What you told me in the note?"
"Yeah. You're being watched in the tunnels. Something is down there with you."
I expected her to gasp or freak, but all she said was a calm, "Okay, I understand."
I continued quickly. "There's a good chance the bird things will grab you if you come out of the tunnels anywhere they're expecting you to surface, so you're going to have to be really, really careful."
"Don't worry about it, Z. I've been doin' a little secret reconnoitering of my own since you passed me that note. I think I can get everyone there without being seen."
"Call Sister Mary Angela first and tell her you're coming. Tell her I'm coming, too, ASAP. But don't tell the red fledglings where you're going for as long as you can keep it from them. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Okay. Give Grandma a hug for me."
"Will do," she said. "And I won't let anyone tell her about your acc Kry Angelaqident. It'll just stress her."
"Thanks," I said. "Is Heath okay?" "Totally. I told ya don't worry about him. Both of your boyfriends are fine."
I sighed, wishing I could correct her and tell her I only had one boyfriend. "Good, I'm glad they're safe. Oh, Aphrodite's safe, too," I added, feeling a little strange about it, but thinking that since I'd checked on my Imprinted human, maybe Stevie Rae would like to check on hers, too.
Her laugh was happy and familiar. "Oh, Z, I know Aphrodite's okay. I'd be able to tell right away if something happened to her. It's weird, but it's true."
"Okay, good. I guess. Hey, I gotta go. And you do, too."
"You want me to get everyone outta here to night?"
"Now," I said firmly.
"Got it," she said. "See you soon, Z."
"Please be very, very careful."
"Don't worry about me. I got a few tricks up my sleeve."
"You'll need them. See ya," I said, and cut off the tinny connection. It was a relief to know Stevie Rae was going to move all the red fledglings to the basement beneath the Benedictine Sisters Abbey. I had to believe that the darkness I'd begun to see hovering around the tunnels wouldn't do so well in the basement of a bunch of nuns. I also had to believe Stevie Rae could get all the kids there without being captured by the Raven Mockers. If only the rest of us were that lucky, we could meet and regroup and figure out what the hell we could do about Kalona and Neferet. And I would ask Stevie Rae about the creepy dark shadow stuff. Sadly, I had a feeling she would know way more than me about it.
I entered the common room. Normally, after school it would have been crazy busy with fledglings hanging out, watching one of the several flat-screen TVs. Comfortable chairs and loveseats were clustered around the room, and kids should have filled them up as they relaxed after a long school day.
Today there weren't many fledglings, and those who were sitting around were unusually subdued. Part of that might be because the cable had been knocked out by the storm, but the House of Night had some major backup generators, and kids should have been watching DVDs--I mean, hello! Almost everyone had Netflix. But the few kids who were present were